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Post by Jeremy on Aug 26, 2018 16:09:29 GMT -8
After over a decade of publication, the Buffy comic book has been cancelled. The final issue will be published next month.
The reason isn't really sales-related - 21st Century Fox (which owns the Buffy rights) pulled the license of Dark Horse Comics to publish the series, since Fox was recently bought out by Disney, and the Mouse doesn't want any outside properties making money off its products.
But it does give an advantage to the reboot - should the new TV series be a direct sequel to the original, the showrunners won't have to constantly worry about "tying in" to the comics. There are no longer any other Buffy properties to encumber it.
(Incidentally, for those wondering, the comics are currently on Season Twelve. Yes, Twelve. I haven't read the series in a long time, but apparently Giles became a teenager, and Angel is dating Illyria, and Dawn is pregnant with Xander's child. Just thought you should know these things.)
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Post by ThirdMan on Aug 26, 2018 18:13:27 GMT -8
Creepy frickin' Xander...heh.
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 26, 2018 18:34:10 GMT -8
I think they're married. If that makes it less creepy.
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Post by Jay on Jan 21, 2019 12:09:24 GMT -8
I guess it's been replace by a new comic? I haven't paid any attention since forever but this incidentally popped into my twitter feed as promoted by Goodreads
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 21, 2019 17:37:51 GMT -8
Buffy comics were bought by Boom! Studios, which typically skews toward an adolescent female audience. So taking things back to high school makes sense.
I'm hoping it's good. Boom! prides itself on publishing the most unabashedly left-wing comics on the market, which has led to some very mixed output. But there's no way they can ruin high-school era Buffy (he said cautiously).
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 27, 2019 7:01:34 GMT -8
So I checked out the first issue of the new Buffy series.
It's being marketed as "What if Buffy premiered in 2019?" but, surprisingly, there's very little in the way of modern pop-culture references, and even in modern technology (outside of the sleek laptops, and Xander's online username being "theXeppo.") I figured the book would feature heavy updates, since it's trying court a younger audience, but it looks like they aim to appeal to longtime Buffy fans as well.
I'm not sure what to make of the story or tone after the first issue (which is titled "Welcome Back to the Hellmouth," natch), since it feels kind of rushed. Trying to introduce Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles, explain who they all are, begin establishing them as the Scooby Gang, and plant the seeds for an upcoming Big Bad... all in just 23 pages. The world doesn't feel nearly formed just yet, and a lot of the humor (particularly from Xander) feels kind of forced.
I'll stick with it for a little while out of nostalgia and curiosity, but this was kind of an inconsistent start.
Other thoughts:
- Willow is already established as gay in the first issue, and is mentioned as having a girlfriend. (No clue who it is.) One of the few real indications that this series takes places in the modern era, rather than the late '90s.
- Buffy (the show) has long been criticized for its lack of racial diversity, and the comic is trying to find ways to address it. Robin Wood has apparently been de-aged to a high school student. (Yep.)
- Anya is presumbly being set up as a villain, although her appearance is too brief to tell. Also, the art makes her look too much like Buffy.
- "Anyone could be a witch! Even you, Willow." Brilliantly subtle foreshadowing there.
- No mention of Angel or Cordelia (although there's a brief Wolfram and Hart reference). Are they saving those two for a spinoff?
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Post by Jay on Jan 28, 2019 12:52:35 GMT -8
Not that I know if they'll go in that direction, but if Robin Wood is now just an ordinary student and Buffy recently became a slayer, I hope that they retain his backstory where his late mother had been a slayer because that could lead to some interesting tensions between him and the rest of the group.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 28, 2019 17:44:45 GMT -8
I hope they do as well, although having him be the same age as Buffy would shift the timetable quite a bit. Particularly if and when they introduce Spike in a non-'70s leather jacket.
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Post by Jeremy on Feb 28, 2019 9:08:24 GMT -8
So, the second issue of the Buffy series seems to be setting up a romance between Buffy and Young Robin, although no mention of his mother yet. Also still no mention of Angel, which makes me wonder if he's going to feature in this series at all.
Meanwhile, the series clearly wants to set up a lot of stories early on, incorporating Buffy lore in the same way the 2000s Ultimate Spider-Man series weaved together a bunch of unrelated Spidey stories. The problem is that a lot of the character work feels kind of rushed at this point.
The series captures the voice of the early Buffy/Giles relationship pretty accurately, which is fine. But the Willow and Xander material is more lopsided. Willow doesn't have much character thus far outside of being a gay computer nerd (her girlfriend is Rose, a new character created for this series). Xander, meanwhile is settling into an unsubtle "Zeppo" groove where he feels like a third wheel in the group. The problem with this is that we're only two issues in, so I barely have a feel thus far on what Xander's place in the Scooby Gang even is.
Meanwhile, issue #2 also introduces Cordelia and Spike, and reveals that Buffy's mom has a boyfriend (another new character) whom Buffy doesn't get along with. Like I said, a lot of new stuff. And I'm still not sure what's going on with Anya and Drusilla, or why the latter is dressed in a pantsuit. (She looks much more like her TV version on the cover.)
Also annoying is the voiceover narration, which at various points in the issue is delivered by Buffy, Spike, and Xander. It's cloying and unnecessary, and it's sometimes unclear who's narrating at times. (Though that may be the intent - keeps the audience on their toes.)
Issue #3 will apparently introduce Jenny Calendar. Hope it introduces some more coherent storytelling as well.
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Post by Zarnium on Feb 28, 2019 11:10:49 GMT -8
So, the second issue of the Buffy series seems to be setting up a romance between Buffy and Young Robin, although no mention of his mother yet. Also still no mention of Angel, which makes me wonder if he's going to feature in this series at all. One wonders if that miiiiiiight be because current writers are hesitant to feature a romance between a teenager and an adult. (Though I suppose they wouldn't necessarily have to be love interests in the reboot.) |
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Post by Jeremy on Feb 28, 2019 12:26:00 GMT -8
I mean, they could give Angel the Robin treatment and downgrade him a few years. But that would probably enrage a lot of Bangel fans who don't want to see that romance tampered with.
Also, it looks like the series has been ordered for 12 issues, comprising three 4-issue mini-arcs. This is standard for Boom Studios comics (Goldie Vance tells its stories 4 issues at a time), but it also means that we're halfway through the first story arc and I'm still not entirely clear on what the story is.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Feb 28, 2019 19:49:45 GMT -8
Drusilla as The Master is a neat choice, hypothetically?
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 1, 2019 5:46:08 GMT -8
Ohhhh. So that's why the website refers to her as "the Mistress." (I don't think they've used that name in the comics, as of yet.)
Yeah, it looks like they're trying to combine the Big Bads of the first two seasons into one. Interesting choice. And now I'm looking forward to the arrival of Mayor Adam.
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 1, 2019 13:03:29 GMT -8
Nah, combine Adam and Glory: Frankenstein demon in fancy red dresses.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 19, 2019 16:53:47 GMT -8
I've spun off the Buffy comics talk into its own thread. I'll try to do brief write-ups on each new installment of the reboot comic as they premiere. With that said, issue #3...
So, this is easily a step up from the first two issues. Partly because it isn't trying to juggle six different storylines at once, and partly because it isn't trying to ape the show's early seasons quite so blatantly and self-consciously. As with many other Buffy comics, we have a larger-than-life conflict that wouldn't fit quite as well in the TV series - a giant Man-Bat would certainly exceed the WB's budget, or at best would wind up looking as disastrous as the Mayor-Snake.
But as dumb as the idea of Buffy fighting a literal bat out of Hell may sound, the story develops this (supposed) villain in a way that is both sweet and unexpectedly funny. (Humor is another thing this issue does well - I actually laughed out loud at a certain line of dialogue from Harmony, proving once again that it is impossible to make Harmony unfunny.)
It's also interesting to see Spike and Drusilla's relationship in a light where Drusilla is the dominant figure. Yeah, we got some of that on the show when Spike was wheelchair-bound in Season Two, but even that immediately led to Drusilla playing second banana to Angelus. Here, with no Angel in sight (by this point, I don't think we'll be seeing him at all), Drusilla is actually a threat as the Mistress, and even Spike seems scared of her. Cool.
Are there problems? Well, the 22-page format still isn't doing the series any favors - the underdeveloped Willow and Xander are barely in this issue, and Cordelia's arc already feels rushed. (She debuted in issue #2 as an outsider to the Scoobies, and now already learns that Buffy is the Slayer?) And the story as a whole feels like it's over too quickly, though maybe that's because I was actually starting to enjoy it.
All in all, there's good stuff here. And Giles plays guitar! I will never say no to Giles on guitar (even if I will say no to the rest of that stupid frat-house episode).
Up Next: Could be a red herring, but the issue #4 preview seems to indicate that we'll be meeting... Jesse?? Also, there's a reference to Ms. Beakman, the teacher from "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" who (along with the rest of the Sunnydale women) fell in love with Xander.
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